Auskunft zu diesem Dagstuhl-Seminar erteilt

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Summary

For quite a number of years, researchers from various fields have studied
problems motivated by Robot Navigation. On the theoretical side, a robot is
faced with a number of algorithmic issues that are geometric in nature. This includes
mapping a given environment, searching all possible locations in such an
environment, or localizing the robot’s position on a given map; typically, available
information is visibility-based, but motion-planning may also require the
computation of a collison-free trajectory for a rigid body, if one exists. These geometric
aspects are pursued in the field of Computational Geometry, where
quite a bit of expertise has been developed, including deep results on visibility
problems and motion planning.

Another crucial feature of robot navigation is that path-planning has to be
performed without full knowledge of all necessary data; such information only
becomes available during the course of the robot’s motion, requiring optmization
with incomplete information. Complete knowledge of the scenario only becomes
known after a strategy has been actually been applied. This means that in
addition to the geometric issues described above, an algorithm has to protect
against various possibilities (including faulty sensors or inaccurate data), instead
of basing its decisions on a complete description of the tasks ahead. Problems
of this type are studied in the field of Online Algorithms.

On the other hand, computer scientists and engineers from the field of
Robotics who work with real robots have made tremendous progress in developing
systems that can perform a multitude of practical tasks. These technical
posibilities give rise to a number of scenarios that have been studied in theory
for a number of years. Thus, practitioners can benefit from the expertise of
theoreticians. On the other hand, actual real-world scenarios tend to impose
requirements that are more or less different from the ones previously considered
in theory; moreover, some novel capabilities give rise to additional theoretical
questions that pose new and exciting challenges.

As the possibilities and the need for real breakthroughs increase, the demand
and opportunities for close interaction between practitioners and theoreticians
grows. This became apparent in the Open Problems Session which saw a very
lively debate on how interaction between theory and practice is seen by the various
communities and how it might be improved. The central question seemed
to be what is the best or correct way to model real robots such that theorectical
results become meaningful for practitioners.

A predecessor workshop took place December 7 to 12, 2003. An excellent example
of a successful interaction between theoreticians and practitioners is the
direct result of this workshop: The video “Searching with an autonomous robot”
(available at the website http://videos.compgeom.org/socg04video/) is based
on discussions between the theoreticians S´andor Fekete (TU Braunschweig) and
Rolf Klein (Universit¨at Bonn), and the practitioner Andreas N¨uchter (Fraunhofer
Institute for Autonomous Intelligent Systems), who met at this Dagstuhl
workshop. Using the specifications of an existing autonomous robot, a new
strategy was developed for optimally locating an object hidden behind a corner.
Currently, further work on broad extensions of this scenario is in the planning,
showing that theory meeting practive can lead to real breakthroughs. This
fruitful contact has only become possible by the previous Dagstuhl workshop
on Robot Navigation.

The workshop in 2006 brought together 31 researchers from 9 different countries.
The 25 presentations, varying in length, covered a large variety of topics,
including selected results from online algorithms, search problems and search
games, self-localization, motion and path planning, mapping, and swarm navigation.
Talks were spread over the week to allow for plenty of time for discussions
between the talks, thus giving participants a chance to exchange problems and
ideas. We are positive that many of them will lead to new results and publications.

As usual, Schloß Dagstuhl proved to be an excellent place to hold a great
meeting, so we would not only like to thank the participants of the seminar for
making this a very successful event, but also the Dagstuhl staff for providing a
friendly and stimulating working environment.